Aquarium, iMax & the Weekend!

G'day mates!! ;) 

Myself and my bff's... Mr.Dugoon (Australian name for Beluga Whale) and my Mermaid pal who seems to believe that her long hair counts as legit "shells". She's pretty scandalous if you ask me. 

**play JAWS music**

Matt, Danny, and Kim. Check out the HUGE stingray on the left!! It was absolutely MASSIVE. 

Our Aussie pal thankfully got a shark in this shot!

Hahaha... our fancy and expensive Aquarium picture that we illegally took a picture of when the workers weren't looking... gotta save money!

Diva shots before "Watchman" at the iMax :)

I ate a Kangaroo! I'm Sorry! It was just so so good!

Danny, Matt, and Kim after dinner at "Blackbird Cafe"

It's Wednesday night and raining so I guess it just seemed like the best time to write just a little sumthin' sumthin' for you all!

This past weekend was a bunch of fun! Friday was relatively lazy. I did go for a walk, but there was no beach action during the day :( Friday night I did go over to Anna and Abby's apartment where they made a fajita dinner for myself and Kim! It was incredibly sweet, and not to mention insanely delicious. Their apartment is SO SO nice. They have a little balcony and a swimming pool in the middle of all the apartment complexes. For Anna's 20th birthday at the beginning of June, she's planning to have a pool party with cake, Tim-Tams and everything wonderful like that! Haha, who can say no to that?! After dinner we made our way over to see a couple of our friends (Taylor and Abby--a different Abby) perform in the student written musical, "Dark Day's Knight". It was a parody of Star Wars! Kinda funny... slightly awkward... and I was definitely more than a little confused since I have never seen the show before. I know I know... I'm not a true American. 

Saturday was a full day of good times. The best way to avoid homesickness is to keep busy, so for the most part, I really enjoy my busy and packed full days here. I left around 2 with Kim, Danny, and Danny's roommate Matt for the famous Darling Harbour in downtown Sydney. We first made our way over to the iMax theatre first to get tickets for "Watchman". I was a little hesitant to drop $21 on a ticket to a movie that I heard was pretty bad... but my friend Danny insisted that if Kim and I hated it SO much he would buy Kim and me a drink at dinner. Haha, he just really wanted to go :) So. We bought our tickets and moved on to the Sydney Aquarium. The shark tunnel was absolutely insane and being up close and personal with a crocodile was pretty stellar, but I have to say that I just really enjoy the dolphin show at the Chicago Shedd Aquarium!! Sydney was definitely missing that part. 

After hitting up the Aquarium, we made our way over to the iMax but stopped along the way at "Blackbird Cafe" to make reservations for a late dinner after the movie. Well, the movie was pretty terrible... in my opinion. I laughed during the inappropriate spaceship scenes and the whole plot line was just pretty cheezy and lacked a HUGE epic battle scene. Needless to say, Danny bought Kim and I a beer at dinner... nothing too crazy, Mom! :) Dinner was a lot of fun--AND I tried Kangaroo for the first time ever!!!!! It sounds cruel, but it was so delicious that I had to eat it all. It's supposedly very good and is the leanest meat you can eat. I would definitely recommend to anyone who is visiting Australia. 

We made it home by a little after midnight and by that time I was ready to go to bed. It was an absolutely beautiful warm day with good friends and some great sightseeing along Darling Harbour!

Sunday, I was a little "down" and homesick, so I got out of my room and went for a walk to a nearby park about 15 minutes away. The moment I stepped outside I felt so so much better. I ended up laying down on the baseball field in the park for a good ten minutes listening to music and just thinking about White Sox baseball and Derek's softball games this past fall! I can't wait for White Sox baseball when I get home!! Southside pride...

My writing is boring tonight, so I'm just gonna bullet-point some totally COOL things coming up!

**Full day trip to Hunter Valley on Friday! We'll be going to 3 wineries and a brewery!

**Going to see Anna's "Monkey Play" on Saturday night with Kim!

**Beach day on Sunday (not sure which exact beach yet...)

And then... NEXT WEEKEND:

**Attending the LIVE recording of "So You Think You Can Dance: Australia" on April 3rd with Kim, Anna, and Abby!!!!!!!!!!! I am so incredibly excited. It'll be down to 8 contestants by then, so it should be pretty good.

**My friend, Dan Jensen's, 21st birthday later Friday night!

After next weekend, it will be time when my Mom & Dad arrive in Sydney after a few days in Cairns!!!!!!!!! I cannot wait to see them. It will be great to have visitors here to break up some of the time abroad :)

Time to illegally download "Desperate Housewives" off the web. Sorry this update was really quite boring. 

Love you all!

xoxo,

Carly